@article{Raitio13b,
title = {Synthesis and Perception of Breathy, Normal, and Lombard Speech in the Presence of Noise},
author = {Tuomo Raitio and Antti Suni and Martti Vainio and Paavo Alku},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csl.2013.03.003},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-01-14},
journal = {Special issue of Computer Speech and Language on 'The Listening Talker'},
abstract = {This papers studies the synthesis of speech on a wide vocal effort continuum and its perception in the presence of noise. Three types of speech is recorded and studied along the continuum: breathy, normal, and Lombard speech. Corresponding synthetic voices are created by training and adapting statistical parametric speech synthesis system GlottHMM. Natural and synthetic speech along the continuum is assessed in listening tests that evaluate the intelligibility, quality, and suitability of speech in three different realistic multichannel noise conditions: silence, moderate street noise, and extreme street noise. The evaluation results are encouraging in showing that the synthesized voices with varying vocal effort are rated similarly to their natural counterparts both in terms of intelligibility and suitability.},
keywords = {Adaptation, Breathy speech, intelligibility, Lombard speech, statistical parametric speech synthesis, Vocal effort}
}

This papers studies the synthesis of speech on a wide vocal effort continuum and its perception in the presence of noise. Three types of speech is recorded and studied along the continuum: breathy, normal, and Lombard speech. Corresponding synthetic voices are created by training and adapting statistical parametric speech synthesis system GlottHMM. Natural and synthetic speech along the continuum is assessed in listening tests that evaluate the intelligibility, quality, and suitability of speech in three different realistic multichannel noise conditions: silence, moderate street noise, and extreme street noise. The evaluation results are encouraging in showing that the synthesized voices with varying vocal effort are rated similarly to their natural counterparts both in terms of intelligibility and suitability.